ASIA: INDIA: BIBLE FESTIVAL BY DIOCESE

UCAN REPORT: Half-price books and a series of events aimed at ensuring all Catholics have one
C. J. Varghese, Kurnool
India
October 12, 2011
Catholic Church News Image of Diocese organizes Bible festival
The training session

Kurnool diocese in Andhra Pradesh is celebrating a Bible Festival to inculcate a habit among the Christians to own and read the Holy Book.

“The inspiration for the festival came from the 2009 Mumbai Indian Mission Congress. People are hungry for the Word of God and the festival is aimed at helping them find the real presence of God in the Bible,” said Bishop Anthony Poola of Kurnool.

The festival continues until January 2012.

“We want every Catholic to possess a Bible. A Bible [usually] costs 120 rupees (US$2.60) but we have subsidized the price and are selling it for half the rate,” said Father Bhaskar Mendem, parish priest of Kurnool cathedral.

The diocesan pastoral commission has trained “animators” in every parish to conduct Bible programs. They celebrate mini-Bible festivals and programs in villages.

Bishop Poola has issued circulars allotting dates for “chain adoration, including Bible prayers” in all the institutions and parishes for the success of the festival.

He distributed cards with Bible prayers and songs to be used in adoration.

The effect of the festival was summed by M. Balaiah, a villager, who said “Through these celebrations we have come to know the power of the Bible.”

http://www.ucanews.com/2011/10/12/kurnool-diocese-organize-bible-festival

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